A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to composite aircraft, and, more particularly, to a composite aircraft comprising an aerostat providing buoyancy and a rotor assembly providing lift and propulsion.
B. Description of the Related Art
Conventional composite aircraft designs, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,856,236, 3,976,2654, 4,482,110, 4,601,444 and 5,082,205, include a rotor statically connected to an aerostat typically along an equatorial plane. Such designs suffer from high drag, complex ballonet systems, mooring difficulties, maintenance problems, instability at no-load and light-load conditions, and potentially catastrophic instability at neutral buoyance.